East Park is seeking suitable skilled and motivated people to join its Board of Trustees in an exciting and challenging period.

East Park provides excellent, child focused education and residential care to children and young people with complex additional support needs, including autism spectrum disorder, physical and sensory impairments, and challenging behaviours. With the young person at the centre and working with external partners, our work focuses on seeking innovative, personalised approaches which enable each individual to reach his or her maximum potential.

Established in 1874, East Park’s services have developed considerably over many years and is now a niche and specialist service provider in education and care and has ambitious plans to improve its campus facilities and the general environments around East Park.

To help support the organisation going forward East Park seeks skilled and motivated individuals to join the Board of Trustees. As a non-executive member of the Board you will play a central role in developing strategy, monitoring quality and governance and supporting the provision of education and care services.

East Park seeks individuals who possess strategic vision, good independent judgement, and have the ability to work as part of a diverse team. We are keen to hear from you if you have high level experience in:

• Charity law or similar
• Social Care or similar
• Financial
• Fundraising

Above all, East Park seeks people who share our values and wish to support vulnerable children and young people in fulfilling their potential, that understand the challenges of the sector and will fulfil a constructive and supportive role in furthering the values and objectives of East Park.

The Board meets around 6 times per year for 2-3 hours on a weekday. Although the role is non-remunerated reasonable expenses will be reimbursed with training provided.

Please note – Board appointments are dependent on satisfactory references and PVG Scheme membership.

At SCDC, we believe communities matter.

SCDC is an independent charity in Scotland, designated as the lead national organisation for community development.

We are looking for new Board members to help lead SCDC into its next decade of development. If you are passionate about community development, democracy, social justice and community empowerment, this is your opportunity to make a difference to people and communities across Scotland. Applicants will have a value-led approach to the social justice agenda and a creative and innovative philosophy to the development of a key national organisation such as SCDC.

You will be knowledgeable about the policy and practice environment for community development in Scotland. We are interested in the following skills and experience:

• Expert knowledge and experience of community development in a range of settings
• Business and strategic planning
• Experience of enterprise support
• Experience of financial management
• Experience of human resource issues
• Knowledge of legal issues associated with an enterprise of this type.

We are particularly interested in hearing from people with a disability, people from different ethnic groups, people with different faiths or religion, younger age groups and people with different sexual orientations or identities.

This post is not renumerated but all reasonable expenses incurred will be met.

ABOUT EAST LOTHIAN COMMUNITY RAIL PARTNERSHIP

Community Rail Partnerships (CRP) were first established in England in the 1990s as a formal mechanism to reinvigorate local and rural railways. CRP status provides a framework for community involvement in strategic planning, development and operation of a specific railway line.

Since 2014, the East Lothian Community Rail Partnership has been pulling together a wide range of local organisations with an interest in communities and sustainable transport, to fix the link between railway stations, town centres and the surrounding areas, and realise an integrated transport network accessible to all. We work with four train operators (ScotRail, LNER, TransPennine Express, and Cross Country), Transport Scotland, East Lothian Council, the Regional Transport Partnership (SEStran), local businesses and community groups towards the following aims:

• Supporting the local economy by promoting rail use and rail facilities
• Actively promoting the use of rail and other public and low carbon-emitting transport
• Supporting safety, security and access initiatives relating to railway use
• Working with ‘station adopters’ (individuals and groups) to provide a more pleasant environment within the station areas.

ABOUT THE VACANCY

Harry Barker has been chairing East Lothian CRP since its inception in 2014 and is now preparing to pass on the reins of a well-established and respected organisation. In addition the time is right to expand the Board and also appoint a vice chair. Examples of projects completed to date include:

• restored the murals at Prestonpans Station (best community project 2023)
• improved signage to stations
• provided information boards for display in stations promoting local attractions and historical information
• supported many local events in the North Berwick and Dunbar areas
• producing a line guide and leaflets to encourage tourism
• working with bus operators to improve integration between bus and rail

Projects have always been dependent on external funding which to date has not proved problematical, and, as such, the incoming Chair will have the flexibility to pursue their own agenda. The CRP is financially sound and new ways of operating are being explored by The Community Rail Network and the new Chair will be well placed to provide input to these.

East Lothian CRP has no paid staff, and projects are led by volunteers under direction from the Board, and therefore the amount of work involved can vary but can be expected to be around 10 hours per month for the Chair.

DUTIES OF THE CHAIR

Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring that the CRP is run in accordance with the constitution
• Guiding and encouraging projects that will be undertaken from time to time
• Ensuring that the Action Plan is kept up to date
• Chairing four meetings per year, including the AGM (normally held in November)
• Producing an annual report for the AGM
• Ensuring that the activities of the CRP are within the guidelines produced by the Train Operating Companies in all respects particularly including safely

BENEFITS

You will receive a ‘staff’ rail pass from ScotRail permitting free rail travel throughout Scotland when travelling on ScotRail trains.

Reasonable expenses will be paid if required to travel on other rail services and/or stay overnight.

REQUIREMENTS

The successful applicant will be expected to support public transport in general, with a keen interest in integration between modes such as buses, active travel and rail.

A willingness of Board members to attend committees and conferences is essential (expenses will be covered) and these will give valuable access to professional railway staff and management on the front line, where your views can be heard. These include:

• the local ‘Rail Forum’ involving MSPs, Councillors and Train Operating Companies - twice a year, usually virtually
• in-person or virtual annual conferences of the four local Train Operating Companies (ScotRail, Cross Country Trains, TransPennine Express, and LNER) which may be held anywhere in the UK
• An annual event in Scotland sponsored by Modern Railways magazine which is attended by many high profile railway managers and senior representation from Transport Scotland
• Virtual attendance (via Zoom) at the national Community Rail Network meetings
• In-person Community Rail Networks Awards ceremony, if the CRP is short listed for an Award – this year’s was in Swansea over three days
• Six Community Area Partnership ‘On the Move’ groups consider local transport in East Lothian – CRP representation on one or more of these groups is important for a full appreciation of issues surrounding each station. Each On the Move Group meets every two months

A knowledge of railways and their workings is desirable but not essential.

Living in East Lothian and using the county’s rail services from time to time would be advantageous.

You will be expected to liaise with the station adoption groups from time to time. They have a separate relationship with ScotRail.

You will be expected to be pro-active in instructing the website to be kept up to date via the CRP’s appointed webmaster, and in responding to public enquiries which come via the website. You will not be required to answer complaints from the travelling public but direct these to ScotRail for attention.

From time to time it may be necessary to communicate with the local Press (East Lothian Courier and occasionally Edinburgh Evening News).

Treasurer Wanted

Ricefield Arts & Cultural Centre is a registered charity and social enterprise for the exploration and promotion of Chinese culture and has an excellent reputation for delivering original and inspiring creative experiences, cultural events and workshops to community groups, public institutions and arts audiences around Scotland.

We are currently looking to appoint a Treasurer to join our small Board. The Treasurer will be responsible for managing all financial matters on behalf of our organisation and will be responsible for ensuring that the organisation has robust financial processes to ensure it meets its legal and constitutional requirements. It will also be the responsibility of the Treasurer to report the financial position at the board meetings. While we encourage and welcome applicants of all backgrounds, we are keen to hear from candidates that have experience of charity financial management or are chartered in a suitable accountancy field.

All Trustees are required to attend monthly board meetings, either at our office located in the heart of Glasgow city centre or via Zoom. In addition, we ask Trustees to attend our annual board development day, important meetings with stakeholders and some events and projects, where possible. As Ricefield Arts is a social enterprise, the role also involves serving as our Board of Directors.

Please note that this is a voluntary role, however, travel expenses incurred in carrying out board duties will be fully reimbursed.

Please check our website for more information.